VIJAY PRASHAD looks at the web of militias and drug-trafficking gangs that emerged in the Sweida region through the Syrian civil war, and how they relate to recent clashes and Israel’s intervention
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Pubs, police spies and the left
An interesting detail emerged from the recent spycops hearings, writes KEITH FLETT
BROWN ALE? A branch of Wetherspoon shows election coverage on TV in 2010. Pubs are often places where people talk politics
by Roger D Harris and John Perry
VINCE MILLS says Scottish Labour has adopted better positions than its Westminster counterpart — but unless it starts to fight for them that will count for nothing
Labour MSP CAROL MOCHAN calls for Britain to follow France’s lead and recognise the Palestinian state as part of efforts to end this war
A Chilean court ruled that funds were illegally taken by the dictator to accumulate family wealth that is now disputed among his heirs, writes PABLO MERIGUET
The shock suspension of socialist MPs and Diane Abbott’s re-suspension reveals a leadership intent on crushing internal debate — but MERCEDES VILLALBA MSP warns against surrendering party democracy without a fight
THE current closure of pubs across Britain is bad news for a lot of people — those employed in them, those who avoided social isolation by paying a visit and those who just like a drink.
It is particularly bad news, though, for a small group of people who, recent evidence has revealed, found their most effective working environment to be the pub.
At the recent public hearings of the spycops inquiries it was revealed both in oral evidence and written statements that it was not so much infiltrating left-wing meetings that gave these individuals the information they craved, but the informal chat in the pub afterwards.
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